Vendasta vs. Buzzboard

The Sales Solution Showdown

BuzzBoard and Vendasta provide solutions for improving lead generation and sales inefficiencies. With both platforms, sales teams have access to tools that assist with the sales process; however, Vendasta also provides a series of managed services and a wholesale marketplace of resellable third-party products to augment its platform.

Overview

Vendasta has long been involved in online presence management; in fact, we pioneered one of the first white-label reputation management solutions back in 2008. Since then, we’ve been able to harness data gathered from our reputation management solution to power a robust pre-sales prospecting tool called the Snapshot report. Our platform has matured over time, and now serves as a vital tool for sales pipeline management. Sales teams all over the world have adopted Vendasta’s software and found success in using it amongst their sales teams.

BuzzBoard was founded in 2013, so they are somewhat new to the industry. BuzzBoard’s platform looks at assisting salespeople through the sales process, from prospecting to closing.

Although both companies have proven to be successful over the last few years, this comparison will outline what each company does individually to foster their partners’ success.

Robert Cullen, City Search Solutions

Vendasta’s customer service, marketing platform, and most importantly, their team is amazing. We would highly recommend working with them, as we’ve seen significant growth since using their online tools. Great company with great service!

Platform Features

Vendasta and BuzzBoard offer platforms that target sales professionals and improve an organization’s sales processes. Some of the key similarities and differences include the features in the chart on the right.

As you can tell, one crucial difference between companies is the breadth of their offerings. While BuzzBoard covers lead prospecting, custom reports and order fulfillment, Vendasta supplements these sales automation features with a variety of managed services and a growing marketplace of foundational tools.

Key Difference: While BuzzBoard’s platform is useful for sales prospecting and pipeline management, it lacks the direct integrations with the products and services its users are selling, making it more difficult to fulfill solutions, onboard new customers and provide managed services. Vendasta is a comprehensive platform full of rebrandable products, not just a sales solution.

Key Platform Features

Platform Feature

Lead Generation

Lead Nurturing

Marketing & Prospect Seeking

Competitive Intel

CRM & CRM Integration

Reports

Marketplace

Managed Fulfilment Services

Content Creation

Overall Online Presence

Prospecting Tools

Vendasta and BuzzBoard provide distinct prospecting tools that generate reports for local businesses about their online presence. Vendasta offers the Snapshot Report; BuzzBoard offers their audit report based off of profile reports.

Industry Benchmarking: If a small business owner wants to see how they compare to their industry as a whole, they won’t have that option with BuzzBoard. This can be a key talking point for your sales team that is completely missing from the BuzzBoard platform.

User Friendliness: Vendasta’s reports are clear and concise. They outline highlights and weaknesses while using a series of visual representations. BuzzBoard’s report includes fewer visuals and no description text. Their reports are viewed as busy and hard to understand.

Without clear descriptions, local businesses may not understand what BuzzBoard’s report is telling them—or see the value in it. Vendasta’s report stands on its own and provides context for the user. For salespeople, using Vendasta’s Snapshot report does not require in-depth digital knowledge to understand. The Snapshot report is the simplest sales prospecting script in a consultative sales approach.

Stronger Prospecting Algorithm: The Snapshot report is only one piece of the sales automation puzzle that Vendasta considers when identifying a small business’s purchasing intent. When combined with other parts of our platform—such as Product Catalog and Business Center activity—our system goes beyond email campaigns to feed our “hotness” algorithm, painting a more reliable picture of an agency’s hottest leads.

Key Prospecting Tool Features

Prospecting Tool Features

Reports

Industry benchmarking

*

Competitive Analysis

Clear and concise metrics

*Direct Competitor only through Competitor Audit

Competitor Tools

Small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) crave competitive insights. What’s the buzz around town? How’s the business across the street doing? Who’s saying what about whom?

Vendasta’s Reputation Spy solution puts competitive information in the hands of business owners. In one tool, sales reps can show them the reviews, listings, mentions and social profiles of the businesses they’re interested in.

BuzzBoard does competitive analysis, but in the form of an audit report. If data changes or competitor information changes then new reports must be submitted. For real-time competitive intelligence, Vendasta has the edge.

Although competitive analysis is a great thing to leverage at the point of sale, it shouldn’t end there. With Vendasta, you are not only able to prospect and sell to small businesses using competitive data, but those small businesses can also keep tabs on their competition after the sale with real-time insights.

BuzzBoard raves about their competitor audit, and although it’s good for selling, being aware of competition goes beyond the point of sale with small businesses. Give SMBs the tools to keep their eye on the competition, not just during the sale.

Key Competitor Tool Features

Competitor Tools

Customize Competitor List

Real-Time Competitor Analytics Tools

Spy on Competitor Deals & Promotions

Comparison with Local Search Terms

Monitor specific consumer activity online (reviews, social media)

Competitor Analysis Beyond Point of Sale

*Direct Competitor only through Competitor Audit

CRM Integrations

Vendasta has created its own specialized CRM known as Sales Center. Our partners have everything they need in one system and don’t have to bounce around logging in and out of third-party CRMs.

BuzzBoard is a sales-focused platform that is reliant on third-party CRMs such as Salesforce. Salesforce is a popular CRM, but can be an expensive addition for companies to pay on top of their BuzzBoard subscription.

With Vendasta’s sales pipeline management features, agencies and media companies save time and money by not having to integrate with third-party CRMs. A business can be set up and selling within the same day.

Bottom line: If you’re overwhelmed by complicated, expensive CRMs, then Vendasta’s Sales Center is a no-brainer. If, however, you require integrations with these CRMs, BuzzBoard has the edge—for now. In this case, we’ll call it a draw.

Key CRM Integration Features

CRM Integrations

Industry Benchmarking

Stronger Prospecting Algorithm

Independent Specialized CRM

Integrates with third-party CRMs.

Summary

The biggest difference between Vendasta and BuzzBoard is that Vendasta offers a robust local marketing platform, not just a collection of prospecting tools. Although BuzzBoard’s platform can be helpful for sales teams at the point of sale, there is greater potential for success (read: recurring revenue) with Vendasta’s platform beyond closing the deal.

Prospecting tools are important for sales teams, but it’s more important to have a platform that supports all sales and marketing needs.